Buying Equipment...credit card or loan?

G

grant

I'm still a college student with another year left, but I'm dying to get my own equipment. I'm looking to spend $2,000 on a quick start up (DVX100 + accessories) and then build as I go along. I'm debating whether or not to try to up the limit on one of my credit cards or take out a loan. I know that CC is the worse way to fund stuff, but I figure the monthly cost would be much low enough to handle considering I'm on a pretty tight income right now. I'm pretty sure I could make at least a couple hundred bucks a month doing odd jobs with the EQ for people in order to start slowly paying it off.

I already got about !$15,000 in college loans and just took a $6,000 for a car loan. Anyone have any suggestions? Or what they did to try to get equipment?
 
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Don't buy, rent.

If you are dead set on buying don't ignore audio gear. Spend 1/4 to 1/2. You'll need a mic (a quality microphone will be one of the few things that you will purchase that will hold its value), boom pole, shock mount, headphones and other accessories. You'll need some decent speakers for editing the audio.

99% of indie filmmakers ignore sound until it is much too late. Every dollar you spend on production sound will save you ten in audio post.

Sound is half of the experience.
 
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Unfortunately I don't agree with Alcove Audio or agcamerasound. I am a firm believer in buying your own equipment. However I do think you need to do some research and decide what field you want to get into when it comes to film production. Do you want to be a gaffer? Then research lighting and get some lights. Do you want to be a cinematographer? Then research cameras and purchase one of those. Do you want to work in audio? Then research mics and other equipment and purchase it. Do you want to direct? Then save your money and hire people for the other stuff while you work with the actors and actresses.

I think renting could be a great thing but if you want to get lots of experience and learn all the ins and outs of a certain job then I wouldn't recommend renting. I would buy my own equipment or better yet try to find a mentor that would take you on as an apprentice. You could spend upwards of $1000 and only have the camera or other piece of equipment for a week, that isn't enough time to become aquatinted . Now, wouldn't of it have been better to just buy a camera for a thousand?

I would definitely think long and hard about what you want to do and if it is going to be a great investment at this stage in your life. Good luck.
 
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I think that the point is most folks who go out and buy a camera want to be directors, not to pursue a career in one of the crafts. You don't have to know how to operate a camera, mix sound, rig lights, set pyro, etc. You don't see fledgeling directors who want to do zombie flicks spending lots of money on make-up kits; they call in a make-up person.

A directors job is to communicate his/her wishes to the department heads, although it is very important for a director to know the basics of all of the crafts in order to communicate efficiently. If you follow your comment to its logical conclusion then every up-an-coming director should have a camera kit, sound kit, lighting kit, make-up & hair kit, editing/CGI/color correction platform, audio post platform, etc., etc., etc.
 
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I have a slightly different opinion.

Like they said; if you want to pursue a career in something other then Producer/Director, and in a career that involves equipment;

DP=Camera
AC=Lenses
Gaffer=Lights
Grips=Grip equip/truck
ect.

If you want to be a director, don't buy, rent.
 
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Actually if you want to be a DP you need to invest in both lights and a camera. DP's pretty much set up the whole shot from the angle to how they want the light to be controlled and look. Most major motion picture DP's don't touch a camera. That's why they have camera operators. Really if you want to be a DP I would get an apprenticeship with a DP or a gaffer and cinematographer. But I agree if you want to direct don't buy.
 
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I've never worked with a DP that owned lights (some do). Always rented, each day requires different lighting, so usually go with a loaded grip truck (G&E package).

Like CDCosta says, gaffers usually own lights, but usually minimal kits. You'll still need to rent.

The DP not touching the camera is a myth. As far as my experience. The DP is the camera op (as well as being the director of the photography). I understand the technical definition but I have never worked on a film where the DP hasn't been behind the camera, even on big shoots.

To sum it up, I say, if you want to DP, yes, owning a camera is a plus. Owning lights is not necessary.

If you want to direct you don't need to own anything.

Or I could just say ditto what CD said lol.
 
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Thanks for all the replies guys,

I probably should've added a bit of what my plans are. Like I said I'm still a student and will be finishing up a BA in the next year. As far as interest goes I don't have a set craft that I want to do. I really do enjoy everything thats involved in the film making process from writing the script to doing the sound mix in post. I'm also the kind of person that likes to master everything thats involved in doing something. I'm definitely not the type of person who, say, enjoy's working with the lights but wants nothing to do with editing.

Right now I don't see myself taking in paying jobs. I also am not planning on supporting myself right now soley through this. I'm definitely prepared to do projects for little to no pay for a few years while working another job to support myself. With that said, I don't have specific projects I want to shoot right now in order to be able to rent. And because I'm not really getting any money kicked back to me, renting will probably cost a lot more in the long run.

What I'd plan on doing is mostly shorts done by myself, projects for non-profit organizations, and small jobs that I find on craigslist or get referred to. So this is all mostly for portfolio work and just to get as much experience as possible.

What my plan was is to get hold of $2,000 - $2,500 (whether credit card or loan) and spend about $1000 on a DVX100a (ebay), then go with $300 tripod, $400 decent shotgun mic, and $300 for lights. All used. So pretty much a starter kit and then build as I go. Then I'm hoping to add a 35mm adapter a few months later if I start getting larger networks and a bit bigger projects to work on....or if I'm able to pay off a good chunk of my equipment.

I'm just dying to do something and get out there. It's also hard because of working, school, internships, etc its hard to team up with people because I'm not that flexible. So I figure to take things in my own hands and if I'm the one with the equipment I'm setting up the dates.

Also worth mentioning...I'm in Boston, MA and probably will be for at least the next year.

Thanks again for the advice so far. If anyone has any more insight, experience, or advise let me know,
 
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I don't feel like getting drawn into a long argument here so I'll keep this short. In order to be a successful DP you have to know how lights react, how to control lights, and be able to control the shot as a whole, not just the camera work. With that being said, yes if you can learn all about lighting just by renting, have at it. I would be surprised though. That plan sounds great if you can make it work. Good luck.
 
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Of course not. As I stated before, on many shoots DP's don't even touch the camera (hence the camera operator credit in films and other major works). But in order for one to become good at both they are going to have to experience both, that may mean owning both and touching both in order to get enough experience. I think the best experience is practical and hands on.
 
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I would suggest you rent until you figure out what career path you want to follow. If you want to buy I would hold off until you at least finish school and go for the Red "Scarlet" camera. Keep in mind also that all the other cameras like the panasonic HVX150 will drop in price by the time you are ready. Good luck..
 
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This reads like the OP has "use it or lose it" fever! Heck hes proly already 20 years in debt with college loans... whats another 5.! In this case, he should buy the BEST pro gear he can, because he'll be selling it within the year! The high quality stuff will have better resale value for a longer period of time.
 
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I added $2500 excess debt to my student loans by funding an over ambitious (and honestly very poorly written) short that will never be finished.

You absolutely should stay out of debt... yes.

but if you're going to piss money away, it's good to have something to show for it. Since I rented all the gear for the project I'd rather forget about than talk about, I have nothing but a hard drive full of unusable footage to show for my trouble. That money would have been better spent on a camera and some other gear, but at the time it felt like a good idea... hind sight is 20:20 as they say.
 
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So you're walking out of school with $21,000 of debt. That's a huge chain on you so be careful about the amount of debt you saddle yourself with.

That said, my advice go with things that are format agnostic, in that cameras are always being outdated, but lights, tripods, audio and edit gear don't care what format you use. I'm a DP and took a long time after school to get a camera and even then went in with a friend. (This was back in the days of 16mm film.) If you're just learning and playing around get the cheapest camera you can buy that will take an external mic and has manual exposure, a $300 tripod, a $200 shotgun mic, $100 boom pole and a $300-400 light kit. That will serve you for Youtube shorts. Then after a while, you're find what area you want to focus and you can aim your money at that skill.

Scott
 
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Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

Charles Dickens "David Copperfield"
 
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